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Do I need fast compact flash card?

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Freemann

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I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy "professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
 
The D70 has a good buffer so you may not want to spend the extra money. The CF speed comes into play once you've filled the buffer and in the D70's case it more crtical if you always shoot raw.

Type II cards are thicker. A few solid state cards and all microdrives are type II. Type I should work in all cameras but type II only in cameras with the bigger slot.
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
 
My favorite brand is SimpleTech; faster than most but not as expensive as the professional series, the Ultra, 48x, etc. Price? About $50 for a 256 mb CF. Type II is the Microdrive


Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
--
Mac user
 
Type I is 3.3 mm thick, T II, 5.

To answer your first question, you don't need a fast card but the D70's buffering system really cries out for one. A recent post on the 300D forum shows what I can atest to annecdotelly. With a slow card like a Microdrive (slow in most cameras anyway). You can actually fire off more shots--not in sequence--but close proximity with the 300D than the D70. This is because, although the 300D's buffer stores 4 shots it flushes quickly into a secondary buffer.

On the other hand, the D70 seems to have less buffer RAM but a faster CF interface. Even if you don't typically shoot in continious, ie."shot, pause, shot, pause, shot, shot..." You would be wise to invest in a fast card. The Sandisk UIIs have come down in price.

I tried my microdirve in my little brother's D70 and found that the camera would typically stall more than my 300D, same with a SanDisk "Standard". This is why I would recomend a fast card like Ultra II or Lexar 40x--the D70 make very good use of them indeed!

Steven
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the education.
padeye said:
Type II cards are thicker. A few solid state cards and all
microdrives are type II. Type I should work in all cameras but
type II only in cameras with the bigger slot.
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
...I am a RAW shooter which I really recomend with D70 (just in case you run into moire.) If you shoot exclusivley jpeg than you can probably get away with a slow card.
blakes said:
To answer your first question, you don't need a fast card but the
D70's buffering system really cries out for one. A recent post on
the 300D forum shows what I can atest to annecdotelly. With a slow
card like a Microdrive (slow in most cameras anyway). You can
actually fire off more shots--not in sequence--but close proximity
with the 300D than the D70. This is because, although the 300D's
buffer stores 4 shots it flushes quickly into a secondary buffer.

On the other hand, the D70 seems to have less buffer RAM but a
faster CF interface. Even if you don't typically shoot in
continious, ie."shot, pause, shot, pause, shot, shot..." You would
be wise to invest in a fast card. The Sandisk UIIs have come down
in price.

I tried my microdirve in my little brother's D70 and found that the
camera would typically stall more than my 300D, same with a SanDisk
"Standard". This is why I would recomend a fast card like Ultra II
or Lexar 40x--the D70 make very good use of them indeed!

Steven
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
If continuous speed (more than 9 frames in a row for JPG Fine and 4 in a row for NEF/RAW) is not needed then just get regular CF and the largest size you can afford (512 MB is a good start). Save the money for additional lenses !!
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
--

http://www.pbase.com/ktn

 
1) Image quality and size: Raw, Fine Large JPG, etc....

2) How many continuous shots will you take (at 3/second)

The D70 buffer can hold 4 NEF, 9 JPG Large Fine, 17 JPG Large Normal, etc.... pictures ( if my memory serves me right).

So if you shoot Large Normal, you can shoot 17 consecutive pictures at 3/second on the slowest card around.

I have a 256 MB Simpletech card (Sam's club $41) and have tried continuous shooting on small image, medium quality - I took 60 shots in 20 seconds (or pretty close to that) and the buffer indicator never dropped below about 3/4.

Remember that AF affects this. In AF-S the shutter will not release until focus is locked. If this takes more than 1/3 sec (including the mirror up time) the continuous rate will slow down - regardless of the speed of the card. AF-C will release the shutter regardless of focus lock, and you will get the 3/second speed.

The speed of the card only comes to play when the buffer is full.
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
--
Spannie
 
Try Amazon.com .. but currently market price increase become $108.99.
link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000CD08M/qid=1083285822/br=2-2/ref=br_ts_slwth_th_2/104-1709473-5580710?v=glance&s=photo&n=172502

and try to add this (SanDisk Digital Photo Viewer) for free w/ coupon ... link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008XOK8/104-1709473-5580710

Coupon code: FREESNDKDPVP

That's the current good deal.

NB: don't know it might work or not w/ the compactFlash or not. But I'm sure it's working if you are ordering SD card 512MB.

Good luck
 
If you want to shoot with RAW/NEF and more than 4 shots in quick succession then yes, otherwise probably not.

I do this frequently, and the Sandisk Ultra II is excellent. Also, with the Sandisk USB 2.0 card reader SDDR-91 that I got from Best Buy for $20 it can read from the card at 10.8MB/s (and write at 9.0MB/s) which is awesome. I can download my entire 1GB card in around 90 seconds.

This is the first time I've ever seen any computer USB peripheral actually live up to, and in this case, exceed specifications, usually it's about half as good as they say.

The USB interface from the camera is poor, at least 10x slower than the combination I've stated above, and others have reported that it drains the battery very fast using the camera's USB port (I haven't tested this myself though)

Roland.
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
 
This user said the (slow) microdrive was fine:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=8525821

But keep in mind, download speed off-camera might be worth paying for, too. Depends how much you value your time. Maybe something in-between?
Freemann said:
One question I have is should I buy "professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?
Click to expand...
 
I purchased a 512 mb CF sandisk xtreme. this card is fast. why buy a honda when you can own an 04 COBRA !!!
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
 
Unless it is a 2004 Honda NSX!

High speed cards are not that much more than standard speed and you will eventually find situations where you end up needing their speed. If you spent $1299 for your camera don't skimp on the memory card.
shootit said:
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Scott Weierich
Derby, Kansas
 
D70 writes files very fast if the buffer is not full so if you never shoot 4 raw in a row the speed is very fast. For me the slow one is just fine.

Another problem is that it might be slow when you upload to camera at home but I watch TV while doing it so save the money for something else.
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
 
Spannie already answered it. sorry
ABCDseattle said:
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
this might sound arrogant but what if later on after you bought a slower card you find out that you really like using continues shooting for different types of shots?
You have to get a new one coz the old one doesn't hang.

I myself have 2 sandisk Ultra II 1 Gb cards simply coz I don't want to have to think about running out of space on the cards (I'm shooting in RAW/NEF 9 out of 10 times) and for the fact that I use continues shooting a lot (it's addictive once you tried it a few times) for mainly wildlife and sometimes sports or when trying to take pictures of my sisters overly active twin girls. taking shots of kids or grownups for that matter, using continues shots is a blessing specially as they all have a hard time keeping still for a few seconds.

I too use a fast cardreader to get my pictures on my hd a never use the camera (waste of battery) so that justified my choice for the Ultra cards as well.

All I wanted to say really is why hold back on a memory card when you forked out a lot of cash for your D70 (and perhaps some additional lenses) just get the best there is as your precious deserves it.

Martin

--
http://www.pbase.com/mokummer/nikon_d70

only the insane have strength enough to prosper
 
Mokummer said:
Freemann said:
I'm getting my D70 soon. One question I have is should I buy
"professional" fast compact flash card or just the regular type? I
do not expect to shoot many continuous shots. Is regular card fast
enough for routine writting (i.e. one shot at a time)?

Another naive question: what's the difference between type I and II
compact flash card?

Thanks in advance.

f
Click to expand...
this might sound arrogant but what if later on after you bought a
slower card you find out that you really like using continues
shooting for different types of shots?
You have to get a new one coz the old one doesn't hang.
I myself have 2 sandisk Ultra II 1 Gb cards simply coz I don't want
to have to think about running out of space on the cards (I'm
shooting in RAW/NEF 9 out of 10 times) and for the fact that I use
continues shooting a lot (it's addictive once you tried it a few
times) for mainly wildlife and sometimes sports or when trying to
take pictures of my sisters overly active twin girls. taking shots
of kids or grownups for that matter, using continues shots is a
blessing specially as they all have a hard time keeping still for a
few seconds.
I too use a fast cardreader to get my pictures on my hd a never use
the camera (waste of battery) so that justified my choice for the
Ultra cards as well.

All I wanted to say really is why hold back on a memory card when
you forked out a lot of cash for your D70 (and perhaps some
additional lenses) just get the best there is as your precious
deserves it.

Martin

--
http://www.pbase.com/mokummer/nikon_d70

only the insane have strength enough to prosper
Click to expand...
ERM forgot to mention that with shooting kids and people i don't mean portrait shots doh silly me

Martin
--
http://www.pbase.com/mokummer/nikon_d70

only the insane have strength enough to prosper
 
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